So you've started your business out of your home office--but
you don't actually have an "office"? We went to Susan
Silver, president of Positively Organized! in Los Angeles for
advice on setting up a home office without the office:

Think location. Even if you
don't have a separate room to call your office, choose an area
of your home that has a door, like a bedroom or the corner of an
enclosed den. Says Silver, "Choose a location that has
privacy, has good lighting, is quiet and doesn't get a lot of
foot traffic from other family members."

Look with new eyes. You
might even look to a corner or wall of your bedroom. Silver
suggests sketching possible space-saving ideas on paper first.
"[Use] graph paper cutouts that are to scale," she says.
"That way, you won't constantly move furniture
around."

File right. Try to
incorporate a two-drawer filing cabinet into your office. The top
surface can be used for additional work space. "[Try] a file
cabinet on casters, which can be wheeled under a work
surface," says Silver.

Save space. To maximize
your work space, Silver suggests using magazine file boxes to hold
active project folders on your desktop. The upright style will free
up some space.

Pick smart storage. As you
begin to accumulate records, put them in fiberboard
"banker's boxes" and store them in a garage or closet
to save more room for your actively used files and projects.

Don't mix business and
pleasure. "Keep your business reading and paperwork
in your main work area, away from the kitchen, dining or coffee
table," says Silver. "Become a good boundary-setter.
Otherwise, you'll have a case of creeping clutter that spreads
from table to table and room to room." Wherever you create
your office, don't let your work papers sneak into the other
areas of your home. Silver's book, Organized to Be Your
Best! (Adams-Hall), offers more advice on getting
organized.

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